Kingdom Hearts: A key of destiny
by herutsu
Summary: School is finally out and its time to relax, right? Wrong. Yukomo comes to find himself faced with a 'shadowy' foe, will chaos rule, or can he somehow manage to hold his own?
1. Chapter 1

Up a river without a paddle

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The sun was blazing down as the long summer day drudged on, the dry heat making it seem like someone had absorbed all of the moisture in the air into a sponge and then replaced it with a fine dust; the unbearable heat draining one of their ability to breathe correctly. The wide city streets and walkways were desolate like no other day from the extreme heat wave that had suddenly struck down upon the dreary little town. All were inside trying to stay cool save for but a few teenagers. They must have figured that while school was out for the summer they may as well take advantage of what the majority of the populous would rather have tossed away for even but a minute or two of cool weather or even better yet— rain. It was already three weeks into summer vacation for these kids, and just before school had ended the heat washed over the entirety of the town as if it were a current washing over a few small rocks in a stream.

A bit of a ways away from the more industrialized portion of the town there was a river with a park just teeming with life; on one side of the park lay a lush forest area, while on the other there was a great flowing river with a large portion of it in an eerie calm that allowed for perfect wading conditions. A good deal of people were scattered throughout the park to try and take advantage of the slightly cooled area and still get out in the sun. one older couple was walking they're chocolate lab, a dashing young man probably in his twenties was sprawled across his towel trying to tan, and a few younger kids were playing in the water. However the forest land with being even as silent as it seemed was teeming with activity as well.

"You'll never catch me at this rate!" Rang the exasperated yell of a slender teenage boy who appeared to be about seventeen years old, clad in all black. As he ran through the forest area- kicking off of rocks that quickly appeared in his path so that he might get a speed and distance boost –he grabbed a fairly strong branch and then jumped up a bit, twisting his body so that he would spin around and with a quick pull and flick of his wrist, a loud crack resonated throughout the dense forest area, quickly being muffled by the surroundings. He continued in his spin and looked back after taking a great leap from a rock that rose about three feet above the ground. "If you're just going to keep at whatever speed your at right now then why do I even bother running on ahead?" And with that said in mid air in a very loud and slightly deep voice he kicked off of a rocks that were low to the ground and then one that rose a bit higher up, jumping to a tree and thrusting himself from it with all of his might- stick in hand –and flew or so it seemed back towards his pursuer. Before they knew it they had to come to a sliding halt and brought both arms up in a cross over they're face so as to block the incredibly fast downward slash that the person who had just rocketed back at them dished out to them. It connected hard and the pursuer let out a shrill yelp of pain and then slid back.

Panting a bit, a tinge of pain filling his arms with a burning heat, the pursuer dropped his arms and smiled a bit. "Honestly I don't know how you do it" he said in a higher tone than the person he was pursuing "no matter how many times I go up against you Yukomo, you always have something up your sleeve!" and with that said he tossed a rock underhanded and with great speed at Yukomo, and then kicked up a larger rock and a third of roughly the same size as the second and with two quick kicks he sent them careening towards that of which he confronted.

Yukomo wielding the stick now more like a sword swatted the first rock away and then using that same momentum spun his body around as quickly as he could and slashed into the second rock- a loud crunch-like noise could be heard almost all of the way out of the forest area –and he continued to spin around at an even greater speed and slammed the third rock to the ground. The rock bounced up and he reached out and snatched it while it was still airborne, slipping it inside his pocket. A smug little smirk stretched across his face "end game Renos!" He said as he stepped forward, placing his 'sword' in its imaginary sheave. However the situation for Renos was a much, much different case.

Renos's eyes widened and he barely dodged the oncoming rock that seemed almost to be a meteor. Yukomo walked gingerly towards Renos with a bit of a sway in his step as he maneuvered through the rough terrain, his arms swinging at his sides ever so slightly and he allowed the stick he was previously wielding to drop to the ground as he moved. Renos let out a bit of a laugh and turned when Yukomo reached him and then walked out of the forest together side by side and into the sunlight. There was a rough breeze about the area that blew the fallen and tainted leaves to and fro, moving as if they were dancing in the wind, and the shimmering rays of the sun enveloped the area completely.

Although, it wouldn't have mattered how light it was for Yukomo, for he was adorned in his normal all black outfit: black lace less leather shoes that had a squared off and wide toe, tight fitting black jeans that covered his black socks, a black button up polo shirt in an interesting pattern that was soft yet bumpy to the touch with all but the bottom most button buttoned up, and of course one black cotton arm warmer- on his right arm of course -that had black chains and cone spikes placed upon it in various locations. He had white hair- obviously bleached, but done well- that had bangs that hung down about two inches below his brow, and the hair on the back of his head flowed down nicely to about his shoulders, if not about an inch lower. His counterpart however- Renos –was almost completely the opposite. Renos was clad in a lot of black as well, but his outfit was very different; between his black leather combat boots, his deep red jeans, his long shirt that was black with red trim and the words 'chaos is peace, and peace is chaos' emblazoned upon the front of it in a white and jagged large font, the sleeves were white with black cuffs that went right up to his wrists, and his black hat with the Japanese symbols for the word chaos in white upon a hard sheet of grey steel. The bangs of his blazing natural red hair moved ever so slightly in the wind, and the medium length hair that fell down his neck from under his hat swayed in the wind as well.

Yukomo walked slowly to the edge of the land just before it hit the now raging river and let out a heavy sigh, gazing off into the distance. He thought he heard something and as he turned around to see what was happening it was too late, and someone who had a grudge on him for one little fight that they lost slammed they're shoulder into him before he could do anything. As Yukomo fell into the swift current clutching at where he had been hit, the attacker just laughed at the misfortune, his wide chest raising and lowering as he did. Renos ran over to the river in a panic and stopped in a fear stricken awe until he realized that there was laughing coming from his far left and he jerked his head only to see the person who had sent his friend into the river. "Serves that little bitch right! Fucking goth, they all deserve to die." Renos just stared on at the pompous jerk in amazement at his stupidity and cruelty, and then rushed him. Performing a sweeping kick he knocked him off his feet, and then pushed up quickly and kicked him with all his might in the groin, kicking his side quickly so he would spin. Renos spun himself about and jumped up above the body and then stomped down, knocking the embarrassment to all teenagers down with great speed and force and putting his entire body weight on his targets chest, causing him to cough up blood.

"That should teach you to never mess with someone out of a petty grudge" Renos said in a valiant tone as he turned to walk away "and if he really is dead, count on me returning the favor!" and with that he walked off, holding back tears from fear of his friends possible death.


	2. Chapter 2

Summoning of the unknown

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As Yukomo drifted along the strong current he closed his eyes and just waited for what breath he had taken to run out and to take one final breath of nothing but the water that surrounded him. Somehow, it felt peaceful and nice drifting along with the current and flowing deeper and deeper down into the murky abyss below. It took a while before he realized that it seemed as though he were getting heavier and the water around him were getting lighter, and his body slowly started to turn so that he were falling as if he were just standing. Little bubbles floated gracefully upwards around him or so he thought, his eyes still being shut. Just then his feet hit something solid, something that was definitely not the river bottom for he felt no current at all at that point, and as he opened his eyes to look about a blinding yellow light shot up from under him and all he could do was shield his eyes from the intense golden aura that shone brilliantly below him. Yukomo brought his arms down to gaze onward at this spectacle and his jaw dropped at the sight of a flock of deep blue birds taking flight from the massive circle that he was standing in. Although the thing that surprised him the most was the fact that he now could breathe freely, as if the water had just vanished; sucked away from the planet by the gods themselves and replaced by this vast darkness surrounding him.

Yukomo looked down and saw what appeared to be an immense pentagram with the faces of people he had never seen before painted upon it in each of the spaces between the points, and as he made his way to the center to see what the large black symbol in the center was it illuminated with a shimmering white glow, almost as if it had been engulfed with holy energy so beautiful that It could make the most divine of angels shed a tear, and Yukomo felt compelled to reach out to the light coming from what appeared to be a keyhole. A white light spread in a beam from the center of his open hand until it was about half of a foot out on each side and then it solidified itself as a black hilt, and a long straight blade of the same color as the hilt. The blade over all was about four feet long, while the handle was roughly one foot long, and it seemed to emanate with some unknown power.

Suddenly he sensed something behind him and turned around quickly; only to see a tall figure in a long black and almost gothic looking trench coat that was almost fully zipped up, save for the waist down. The hood on the figure draped down far over his face, making it impossible to tell what they looked like. They're stance was strong; arms crossed behind they're back. Yukomo reached out to the figure in wonderment "who- who are you?" He said with a bit of a stutter from the surprise of everything that was going on around him. Although the figure didn't exactly speak, it was almost as if its words were spoken in Yukomo's head.

"My name is of no concern of yours, only the names of those who may lose their hearts are important." The words seemed to string together as if some form of visual poetry had begun within Yukomo's head. "To embrace darkness is to let the light drift, and to embrace the light is to let darkness fade"

"But wait up a minute, what are you talking about!" Yukomo questioned sternly as he ran at the hooded figure and it just disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared behind him.

"with the acceptance of destiny your world has been connected" it said as it glided around Yukomo who stood at the ready for any attack that this thing might throw at him "and with that connection, your world may be consumed"  
"So what does all of this have to do with me? What do you mean the acceptance of destiny?" Yukomo questioned in a plea.

"Only you hold the key to stopping oblivion, the choice is yours, but are you worthy?" And with that the figure disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared, and lanky looking shadows started to creep across the ground towards Yukomo. In a cold fear Yukomo jumped back, but was hit by something from behind that seemed like it had dug some sort of claw into his back through the swing. He turned quickly only to see a lanky shadow in a physical form, almost as tall as he was with sharp features and strange looking things that jutted out of its head and moved about just like antennae. At this point Yukomo realized that it was going to take his all in order to accomplish this task, and he also realized that if he was having trouble with just one, that he may not survive the other four shadows that he saw coming at him.


	3. Chapter 3

awakening of destiny

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Thinking quickly, Yukomo leapt into the air, narrowly dodging two of the strange shadow beings and as they struck each other they dissipated into nothingness. Another of the beings jumped up into the air and slashed its oversized hand at Yukomo, and he brought his sword up to block and was sent flying backwards into a previously invisible barrier. It flared up with a brilliant white light as he struck it, and he let out a yelp of pain as he fell to the ground. Using his sword he pushed himself up and looked about at the well organized gang of shadows that were nearing him like the oncoming darkness of a starless night. He had to act quickly and just then one of them lunged at him with great speed, and the only thing he had time to do was jump out of the way. "Damn it" he thought to himself in complete panic, a cold sweat enveloping him entirely "what are these things!"

"they are the hearts of the lost, the darkness that has consumed those souls that have allowed themselves to drift into nothingness…" came the voice in his head that he was getting from the figure he had previously come in contact with before he was attacked. "They are the shadow, they are those who seek out the hearts that they do not have, and the remnants are the light…"

Yukomo slid his right foot back, and then made a great sweeping motion with his sword to slash through one more of these shadow beings and cut straight through it, its body fading into nothingness like the two others had done. "Those without hearts" Yukomo thought to himself as he ran across the large pentagram that he was busy battling these shadows in. "I shall call them the heartless, but why are they here?"  
"There was one other man who thought as you do" the voice said once more "do not let yourself become as he was!"  
Yukomo spun his body around and threw the sword out in front of him and it slashed through one of the heartless as it moved quickly across the area, hitting the barrier and rocketing back towards him. Yukomo turned quickly and started running towards yet another one of these heartless, and it sped up its pace and knelt down a bit before jumping and ascending at him at an incredible speed. Yukomo slid under it and as it landed the sword that was moving back towards its wielder thrust right through it. Yukomo slid to a halt and kicked off the ground, back flipping over his sword and grasping onto the hilt as he landed, slashing it to the side and smiling a bit as he noticed that he had done away with all the heartless single handedly.

Just then a great blinding white light shone through out the area that made it impossible to see for a time, and then it faded away just as quickly and all that remained was a cylinder of white energy. Amazed, Yukomo walked over to it to examine it and before he could get even five feet from it, it reformed itself into a strange white being. It was almost human, except for the fact that it had almost a tube for a head and its arms and legs ended in a point. It had two swords- or sword like objects –at its sides, and it stood there with its right on the left sword, and its left on the right sword. Yukomo took a few staggering steps backwards and brought his sword up to shoulder height, holding it with both hands so that the tip of the blade faced his new foe. "to become one with the light, one must cast off the shadow…" came the voice of that unknown being once more in Yukomo's head, and with that said the being of white vanished without a trace. Confused and slightly annoyed, Yukomo dropped his guard, and just then he sensed something come up from behind him. Quickly he turned and brought his sword up; just barely blocking the attack from what he thought was gone. It brought its other blade around in a quick but powerful horizontal slash and it connected with Yukomo, sending him back a ways and leaving a searing pain in his side. He leapt high into the air and came crashing down upon the being, it blocking his Arial attack and using its other sword to swing around at an upwards slant. Yukomo quickly moved his sword and slammed it down upon the slashing sword, driving it into the ground. He then slammed the other out of the white being's hand and quickly grabbed it out of the air, and then tossed his own up to grab the one that was embedded into the ground. When the being reared back to get away from Yukomo he just smirked and knelt down to the ground, and then pushed himself off and through the air, thrusting one of the blades into and through the beings chest and pressed him against the wall. Yukomo then reared backwards and using as much force as he could he thrust the other sword into the beings head, and then back flipped and caught his own sword in midair, and then jumped again forward once he had barely landed on the ground and flipped a few times through the air before finally slashing all the way down through the being to the floor, and then in one more quick movement he turned the blade upside down and slashed up through him at a slight diagonal upwards slant; turning slowly from the ending blow to stand straight up facing the opposite direction.

"So that must have been the light separated from the darkness that whoever that thing is was talking about" Yukomo said out loud walking to the center of the pentacle "so just what's next then?"

As he walked to the center he was halted by the subtle laughter coming from his side, and he turned his head a bit just so that he could see what it was coming from. As it turned out, two of the dark and looming hooded figures stood there, one of them had their arms crossed over they're chest and as it seemed they were the ones laughing, while the other had their arms crossed behind their backs. The one laughing turned they're head a bit and in a pompous tone said to the other "so this is the kid that you were telling me about? Piece of cake, he can't be that difficult even if he does unlock it!" He began to walk forward towards Yukomo "don't worry, I'll take care of this little runt, you can go run along and take care of whatever you need to" he said and the other figure disappeared leaving he and Yukomo standing there facing each other.

"So who the hell are you" Yukomo said with a sneer as he walked further forward to the center of the pentagram "and what do you mean by 'unlocking it'?"

The black hooded figure brought both hands up and removed his hood, revealing a sharp face with hair that resembled Renos's hair, only this was very full and spiked backwards slightly. "Just reach out with your sword in hand to the keyhole right at your feet kid and you'll see what I'm talking about" he said "and by the way, since this is one of the last moments that you'll have to enjoy, I may as well tell you my name. I am Axel, member VIII of Organization XIII."  
Yukomo nodded and reached out to the keyhole in center space of the pentacle and his sword turned a brilliant glimmering white and then black, and then back to white again before the blade jutted out a bit further and curved at the end down into a large hook, a second hook swooping down and almost touching the inside of the larger one. Down near the hilt the blade extended out on both sides, the lower more than the higher until it made sort of a crescent moon, and a swooping hook appeared at the top of the blade nearer to the center. Slight curves formed on both sides of the blade and the guard exploded out around Yukomo's hand and went into a sort of wavy hook like way, a chain extending from a ring at the end of the guard and ended at an emblem of sorts that seemed to consist of the same strange material as the blade and took the form of a heart with a sort of split lance jutting out from the bottom. And it wasn't just the weapon that Yukomo was wielding that changed, his entire outfit changed as well.

His shoes changed to kneed high black boots and his pants stayed the same, but that was about all that did. A belt formed around his waist that had a pentagram in the center of it, and a flowing white cape like garb started to grow downwards from his waist that was of brilliant fabric, a black vest formed around him as well over his shirt, and it had three white straps that connected the split piece of fabric together. His sleeves had large cuffs now that were white with black ring like stripes down them and black leather gloves formed around his hands that cast a glare in the light that surrounded him. On one shoulder a long piece of fabric- the same as what was adorned around his waist –flowed down from his shoulder past the tips of his skeletal fingers, and the same emblem that was on the end of his new sword appeared around his neck upon a chain. Axel smirked when he saw the new Yukomo and extended his arms out to his sides "so you really are destined to be a Keyblade master then huh?" He said as if questioning himself, but then something hit him like a brick would if it collided with the back of his head "wait a minute, that's the— I'll be back to finish you off kid, you just wait!" and with that Axel faded into the darkness from whence he came, and as he did, the darkness started to dissipate and Yukomo fell back into that sleepy unconsciousness he was in when he descended to this sacred place, no less confused than before.


	4. Chapter 4

annoyance and confusion

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"Hey, wake up Yukomo, are you alright" came a far off sweet voice "please wake up Yuko-kun, please" the voice said, almost pleading. Yukomo slowly opened his eyes and blinked a few times, looking around the room and bringing his hand up to his forehead groaning.

He smiled as his gaze fixed upon the girl that the voice had come from "well hello there Sonja, I'm glad to see a familiar face after what I was just put through." Sonja blushed a bit and her eyes darted away as a smile curled at the edge of her crimson tinted lips. She was a vivacious looking girl, about nineteen by the looks of it. She had long dark oaken brown hair that fell down straight to about mid back, and she had some bits of it hanging low over her face. Her eyes were sharp and full of what would seem like a tainted purity; not quite good but not quite evil. She was adorned in an outfit that seemed as though it were a fusion of gothic and punk, a corset in a black with bright red trim to match her eyes was accompanied by a black skirt that had red leather parts to it hung down about mid thigh and she had shoes that looked like they could come right out of fantasy. She also wore two arm warmers that matched her outfit, flaring out to reach almost to the tips of her fingers.

A sigh came from a corner where Renos stood with his arms crossed over his chest and his head down a bit, somewhat of an annoyed smile was plastered on his face and he let out a bit of a snort "we have business to attend to people, so either stop the flirting and move on to the matters at hand… or get the hell together already!" a blush overflowed in Sonja's face and a slight blush graced Yukomo's, he turning his head away and sitting up, placing both palms back behind him on the bed he was now sitting up on and he let out a bit of a grunt. "There is no possible way for someone to survive what you just went through Yukomo" Renos said as he walked over to his injured friend, his arms still crossed over his chest "so how in the hell _did_ you survive that anyways?"  
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you" Yukomo replied letting out a sigh and turning so he could face Renos "it was amazing, the dazzling light and the creatures that I saw, it was awe inspiring!" he tried to get up but as soon as he stood he stumbled forward and Sonja burst forward to catch him before he fell, placing his arm over her shoulder and one of her own around his waiste. Yukomo just looked over and gave a happy smile to her, and she returned it, but his expression quickly changed back to a serious one "I was confronted by two hooded figures, one who I have no idea of his name, and another who calls himself Axel. I also came in contact with strange beings that I thought could only exist in myth. Beings without hearts, and beings that spawned from those without hearts… I don't know exactly what the white ones were called, but I do know the black ones are called heartless— those who lack a heart." Renos let out an annoyed little noise and a chuckle thinking back to the fool who had dared to hit his friend into the river, but said nothing. "and since the white ones don't really have an existence or anything really, they just are I don't know what to call them…"  
"Sounds like nobody important then" said Sonja without missing a beat, closing her eyes and breathing in deeply.

"That's it!" exclaimed Yukomo clenching one hand into a fist then bringing it up to about his chest "they can be called nobodies. But I think we need simpler names for these things, that way we don't sound like total morons if we talk about them."

Renos brought his arms out, hands open in a gesture almost as if he were saying to just move on with things "so how about we call them shadow and light? That sounds pretty normal if you ask me… not that we're normal or anything but still!"  
"A perfectly normally abnormal bunch" Sonja said with a smile in an upbeat tone.

"exactly, and together we can fight this thing and keep it from taking our worlds heart and consequently devouring our entire existence!"

There was a long pause amongst the group, and then Sonja and Renos's jaws dropped a bit. And as if they were programmed to do so, at the same time they let out a curt and confused "**_What!_"**


	5. Chapter 5

valiant hearts

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While Yukomo rested peacefully with Sonja and Renos watching over him, things were very different around the town. A loud gong like sound spread across the area, followed by another, and another, and another, until it had reached eleven. It was now nearing midnight and the streets were quiet, but were slowly starting to be filled by not human, but by the heartless. Like a swarm of Africanized honey bees they started to come together, gathering in large numbers throughout the town, they're antennae swinging to and fro, bobbing back and forth as they searched for what they sleeked so dearly; what they're existence craved— a heart. Stupidly someone turned on the light in their home and looked out into the vast darkness that surrounded the town, and slowly they made it to their door and walked outside with a flashlight. Their eyes searched the area but could not find anything. Suddenly they were hit from the side and let out a grunt, and as their vision cleared all they saw was a shadowy outline on top of them with two bright glowing yellow eyes as if they were traffic lights come alive. It didn't take long before a deafening scream rocketed throughout the town and the man that had checked out what might be going on faded into darkness, only to breed yet another of these heartless fiends.

Yukomo's eyes jutted open and the emblem on the necklace that he was now wearing flashed a blinding white. "They've come finally" he said matter of factly as he started to get up, but before he could stand Renos ran over to his side.

"Oh no, you don't" Renos said with a bit of a shudder in his voice "if those… things are out there, there is no way in hell I'm going to let you leave this house!" Sonja placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a bit of a nod lowering her eyes, and he knew exactly what she was hinting at. "Well what I mean is that there's no way in hell I'm going to let you out of this house without at least me by your side bud, we've been partners up until now and I'm not about to let you just waltz out of here without me!"

Yukomo chuckled and smiled broadly, getting up to his feet "you think I'd actually walk out of here without you man? Your crazy if you would believe that for a second!" the necklace that Yukomo adorned disappeared and his signature Keyblade appeared in his right hand, the emblem from the necklace now at the end of a four inch chain at the base of his weapon. He turned to Sonja and hugged her tightly, and within his hug he whispered "you need to stay here, but if any of those things come after you don't be afraid to fight" she nodded, resting her head on his shoulder and letting out a sigh "and please" Yukomo continued "call me if things get out of hand, and I'll be right back here just as soon as I can be." Yukomo let go of his embrace and headed out of the house with Renos at his side, the two of them never looking so valiant or steadfast. And as they left, Yukomo raised his hand to say goodbye and a lone tear formed at the edge of Sonja's eye, and streaked down her face.


	6. Chapter 6

revisiting past torture

* * *

As soon as Yukomo and Renos stepped outside of the house they could see the subtle outlines of the homes around them in the darkness, and a few shifting shadows ahead of them illuminated by the soft light that the moon was emitting. The shadows drew nearer and nearer, until Yukomo and Renos could almost reach out and touch them-- and then they made their move. Swiftly like a hurricanes gale the first one struck, it swinging its large claw like hand out at the two; Renos simply dodged to the side while Yukomo swung his blade up through the heartless being, knocking him back only to slam the flat of his Keyblade into the things chest, sending it rocketing back into a patch of them that simply faded into shadow form and moved along the ground unseen, that is until their next move. "So these are those 'heartless' that you were talking about" Renos said as he ran forward and jumped up, spinning his body around and outstretching it, putting a great deal of force into his kick to knock away one of the heartless and send it into the side of a building "they're no pushovers."  
"yeah I know, but we have to break through them and stop whatever they might be trying to do" Yukomo said as he ran forward and slashed to the right to cut through one of them, then to the left to cut through another, then he spun his body around and came crashing down upon one; his blade sending out a bit of a shockwave of glimmering white energy on impact with the ground. After a while of this constant fighting Renos ran back to Yukomo "so" Renos said with a bit of annoyance in his voice "why exactly are we heading this way again?"

"We have to stop them from getting to the worlds heart at all costs!"

Renos simply crossed his arms over his chest and moved to the side, narrowly avoiding one of the heartless as it bound forward and past them. Renos turned and pointed at the heartless and let out a bit of a grunt, slapping his forehead.

"We-we're getting practice in, that's exactly what we're doing Renos!" Yukomo said stuttering at his own stupidity "I knew we had to go that way all the time… eh heh heh." And with that, the two headed off in the direction that Renos had so kindly pointed out to the oblivious Yukomo, a smug grin on Renos's face while the chased after they're target.

Once the pair had reached their destination they were greeted with a hoard of heartless all crowded around a huge compound that looked like a prison or an insane asylum. It was one singular building that seemed to have five substructures built right into it, and emblazoned upon a patch of grass and flowers was a large image of a beast like a panther, but not quite. They walked up the steep incline leading to the compound, pushing past the gate that was normally closed and locked, now torn apart by the heartless. They made it up to the main entrance and once again they found the door that would normally be closed and locked not even existent anymore. "You ready for another trip into this prison Renos?" Yukomo asked, quite disappointed by what he was now confronted with.

"Yeah I guess there's no real way around it, is there?"

"You ready to enter into the prison that our community has so generously provided us with?" Yukomo said in a sarcastic tone

"Yeah I guess so" Renos said trailing off "lets go to that wretched place— the school."


	7. Chapter 7

convenience in the form of a can

* * *

When Yukomo and Renos entered into the building, they saw something that scared them more than anything else up to that point; the entire building seemed to be deserted. "This doesn't look right to me Renos" Yukomo stated as he walked further into the building of pure horror, Keyblade at the ready "I don't like this at all."  
"Neither do I but we need to keep on moving, otherwise we'll never be able to accomplish this tas—" Renos was cut off as a cold sweat enveloped his body and froze him in his place.

"Hey boys!" Exclaimed the excited and somewhat battle scared Sonja from behind them, a hand planted on her hip and a smile across her face.

"Don't do that again!" the two yelled out at her, making her slink away a bit in a mixture of embarrassment and fear. "By the way Sonja" Yukomo said as he approached her "how exactly did you make it here so fast!"  
"Oh that's easy, I just followed the flow of the heartless… that is what you two did, right…?" Yukomo scratched the back of his head and let out a sigh, and Renos merely turned away from her "boys will be boys I guess" she said with an annoyed tone, walking forward and past Yukomo "come on, we haven't come this far just to sit here and chat all day did we?"

"You know she's right" Renos said as he walked on ahead with her.

"Oh shut up, the both of you" Yukomo said with a smile and a laugh as he followed, the three moving deeper and deeper into once pristine but now ravaged school, still with no sign of the heartless.

"Yukomo, where the hell are you going now!" came the annoyed call of Renos from down one of the halls

"It's alright, don't worry about a thing, I'm just taking a bit of a breather from all of this!" Renos and Sonja looked at each other for a second, and then ran off after where they had heard Yukomo's voice came from. They rounded one corner after another until they saw him at afar, sitting down in a chair at a table he had obviously set up with a Pepsi in his right hand. The two stormed over to him and glared him down, an innocent smile on his face.

"just what the hell are you doing Yukomo, this is no time fo—" Renos cut himself off and his jaw dropped a bit, finally realizing that the large case for drinks behind Yukomo was missing a large piece of it, and the glass was shattered and open for all to reach into. "Oh no, you actually broke into it, didn't you?"  
"Like I said, I needed a break, and a sweet break it is!"

Renos let out a sigh and walked over to the registers that were just outside of the kitchen area of the lunchroom "you know bud, sometimes I wonder just how mature you really are… give me that!" Renos lunged at Yukomo and snatched his drink away from him, throwing it across the room. When it finally hit a wall it bounced off and a bright light shone through the wall, outlining what appeared to be a hole. All three of the group stared on in amazement as a large keyhole formed in the wall. "Well that was convenient, so that symbolizes what, what's left of my dignity?" and with that said- and an intense glare from Yukomo –the three headed over to the keyhole that had shown itself.


	8. Chapter 8

Destiny unfurled

* * *

As the trio reached the keyhole Renos and Sonja were both knocked back by some invisible barrier of light to the table where Yukomo had sat before, both struggling to get up from the impact they had just gone through. "Renos! Sonja!" Yukomo exclaimed as he slid to a stop, turning to face his friends and running back to them, only to pummel into the barrier that they had and fall to the floor, clutching the shoulder that had hit in pain. Just then he sensed something and brought his Keyblade up to block from the right and a large red bladed chakra hit, bouncing off and sending Yukomo back a ways. And as Yukomo searched the area frantically, all he heard was a twisted laugh and slowly but surely, one of the hooded figures walked out of what seemed to be a welt of pure darkness that appeared out of nowhere.

"So kid" he said as he removed his hood, exposing his spiked flame like red hair "you ready for a real match?"  
"Axel! I should have known you would be here to stop me. But… why?"

"Because" Axel stated mater of factly with his arms extended out to the sides, a chakra in each hand "if this world is consumed by darkness, that's just one less Keyblade master I have to worry about mucking up out plans."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to see about that one!" Yukomo said charging Axel with all the speed he could muster, and slashing his Keyblade at him. Axel simply dodged and faded into darkness, then appeared again behind Yukomo and thrust one of his chakra at him, Yukomo merely coming aback around and blocking, and then blocking another three thrusting strikes from Axel before Axel finally jumped up and threw one of his chakra across the room, jumping back and throwing the second at Yukomo, then disappearing. Before he could do anything, Yukomo was hit backwards by the first chakra, it spinning while it connected to him, and then Axel appeared behind Yukomo rushing the opposite way to grab his other chakra and spinning his body he threw it back at Yukomo. It too, connected and Axel appeared once more above Yukomo, letting an inferno of flame rain down upon Yukomo from above, Yukomo narrowly dodging and in immense pain; panting heavily he regained most of his composure fairly quickly, but Axel was back and right in front of him to deliver even more blows, but Yukomo had grown wiser and somehow a bit faster in the heat of battle, and kicked Axel back, jumping at him and slashing downward into axel, then jumping over him and thrusting at him. Axel grabbed the blade from behind him and twisted his body around, pulling Yukomo in to slash at his throat with one of his chakra. Yukomo somehow managed to bend his back enough to allow the blade of the chakra to miss and, then he came back with a smashing hit with his forehead to Axels. He stumbled backwards, holding his forehead in pain, and Yukomo came in with a white glow around the blade of his weapon and unleashed a flurry of strikes and slashes upon Axel, each one knocking him back a bit until the final blow hit and sent him rocketing back and into the barrier that was still present.

Axel got up with a bit of a groan and smirked as he waved to Yukomo and started to walk away with a few words that rang heavily in Yukomo's mind. "Next time we meet kid, I won't hold back…" and with that said, Axel faded into darkness just as quickly as he appeared. Yukomo let out a final sigh, and then turned slowly to the keyhole as his friends ran up to congratulate him. He held out his Keyblade and the tip of it started to glow a brilliant white, and then a beam burst from the tip and went into the keyhole. A loud 'click' was heard and the heartless within the town started to dissipate into nothingness. Sonja was the first to reach him, and she wrapped her arms around him, tears falling from her eyes and streaming down her face.

"You could have died out there you idiot!" she exclaimed throughout sobs "why… why do you always have to risk yourself, why can't you just be safe, why cant—"

And with that Yukomo stopped her in her place by a quick gaze into her eyes, and then he planted his lips on hers, and they were at last at peace. But as that peace was just beginning, Yukomo started to fade and before long only the emblem that he wore around his neck remained in his place. Sonja finally awoke from her trance and realized that Yukomo was nowhere in sight, and Renos came up and gave her a tight hug, rubbing her back softly.

"It's ok, there's nothing we could have done. He just… went." He stepped back and the tears started to flow even more as she dropped to her knees and picked Yukomo's necklace up in her hands gently, bringing it to her heart. But something caught her eye, and she looked outside to the large circle of concrete that was surrounded by equally large concrete steps. And there standing was a white figure with one large black angel wing, Keyblade in hand. He gazed onward at her and she gazed onward at him, until her turned and raised his hand as if to say goodbye, and then jumped off of the concrete and faded into the darkness of the night. She looked back down at the necklace, and then slowly put it on, standing up with her hands at her heart; her fingers laced together as if she were praying to some unbeknownst god. "So… why do you think he went away, leaving this world behind for whatever world he's in now?" Renos asked Sonja with a deep sorrow in his voice, still looking off into the distance where Yukomo had just stood.

"He was always saying things" Sonja said "he was always saying that he was tired of this world that we live in. I really think that he's protecting this world from something like this happening again, protecting me… he isn't called Herutsu for nothing!"  
"Herutsu?"

"Yeah, when we were younger we came up with nicknames for each other. I gave him the nickname Herutsu, and when he asked why I said because Herutsu roughly translates out to Heart from Japanese, and I wanted him to be my guardian of heart. Looks like he may just live up to his role as a guardian then." Sonja turned to walk away but stopped mid step to look down at the necklace's emblem again. And as if talking to herself she said "you know, he never did tell me what mine meant, he just called me Koishii, he always said that he would tell me when the day came though." And as she looked down at the necklace she played with it a bit in her hands, and turned it around to see the back, and her jaw dropped a bit, only to be replaced by a smile and one lone tear that cascaded down her check as she read what was inscribed— 'beloved'.


End file.
